Their first real chat in the coffee shop had been guarded, at least on Ajay's behalf. But he guarded himself with everyone, it wasn't just Travis. He hurt inside, he was broken, so it was hard not to play his cards close to his chest. He hadn't known Travis existed, but he gave him the benefit of the doubt. He had really tried to broach the whole thing lightly, but the further they got into the conversation, the more anxiety began to build up in Ajay. And any time that happened, the binging was impossible to avoid. He hadn't avoided it. He had ploughed through a large meal when they had just been intending coffee, then two pieces of cake with cream for dessert and a large milkshake with the coffee. Because he had been trying to focus on Travis, something he had no control over, he locked into binge mode to try to grab back any control he could, and he lost it. He broke off the conversation right in the middle to hurry to the bathroom where he made himself sick, leaving Travis high and dry.

There was a brief glance up at the feeding system he was now attached to, as if to remind himself why he was doing this. "I, um..." he began quietly, uncertainly, trying to find the best place to start here. "I was bleeding in the bathroom at the coffee shop. Like, from inside. I've got this inflammation thing which I just found out about, and... that isn't at all what I'm trying to tell you here, but I figured you should know why I'm in here to start with because you were just left hanging without any explanation. I just... I didn't go to the bathroom because of that. That just happened while I was in there because I... fuck... I was making myself sick and I took pills that aggravated the inflammation thing to cause the bleeding. I've had bulimia since I was about 14, give or take. Truth of the matter is, I'm completely fucked up and have been for years. I was binging the night I got shot... and I begged the shooter to pull the trigger."